00:00Texas, Ohio State.
00:02Oh, man.
00:03I have waited over a year, I guess, at this point for this game.
00:08Why?
00:09Because I feel I was robbed in part one.
00:13I was on Texas a year ago.
00:16And Ohio State backers in that spot, fair enough.
00:22You took one of the best programs, the defending champions,
00:28as a slight home dog, right?
00:31A game was closer to pick, but you maybe put one and a half
00:35in your back pocket.
00:38And you win that bet.
00:41But, man, does the box score tell a different story?
00:44Certainly a different story than the one that has been told
00:47over the last 365 or so days.
00:52Texas outgained Ohio State by 130 yards.
00:56They turned it over on downs.
00:57Not once, not twice.
00:58Not three times, but four times.
01:01And twice inside the Ohio State 10-yard line.
01:06Once at the goal line.
01:08I think the state of that result was changed narratively, Dave,
01:15because of how Texas looked following the game.
01:19Because Arch didn't light the world on fire for a while, right?
01:23Even games against UTEP.
01:26They were not these loud performances from the Heisman Trophy favorite
01:31entering into last season.
01:35I am not actually saying that Texas should have won.
01:40They absolutely could have last year.
01:43And I think year over year, Texas is a bit better.
01:49And I think Ohio State is a bit worse.
01:52And I don't think really either of those are crazy statements to make in this spot.
01:58No, and I agree.
01:59And when I was doing my assessment on this game, and I'll start by saying I was on the other
02:03side last year,
02:04and I had Ohio State defending champs minus the small number at home.
02:08And I came out of that thinking, okay, I'm going to put that one in the I got lucky column
02:12because I didn't think I deserved to win that game.
02:14I was holding on every single time they turned it over on downs by the end zone in the red
02:19zone,
02:20thinking Texas should have won that game.
02:22And you're 100% right on the narrative.
02:24When Arch Manning went out there and struggled in September and October,
02:28the narrative changed to Texas isn't good.
02:30They're not going to make the college football playoff.
02:32Arch isn't going to win the Heisman.
02:33Ohio State's the top team in the land, which they were all the way to the Big Ten title game.
02:37So it was really good Ohio State, really average Texas.
02:41Oh, by the way, Ohio State beat Texas.
02:42But you're right, you look at that box score.
02:44And more importantly, and you just touched on it a second ago, and that's where I want to go.
02:49You look at the offseason.
02:51Texas got significantly better.
02:53They have portal additions everywhere, most notably with Cam Coleman at wide receiver.
02:57You got the extra running back back there.
02:59They have weapons for Arch.
03:01Ohio State, they reload every single year.
03:04That's what they do.
03:05But look at the NFL draft last year.
03:07That's a compliment to Columbus and their program and everything Ohio State and Ryan Day have built.
03:11They had seven defensive starters drafted in NFL draft last year, five of them in the first two rounds.
03:19You lost five starters on defense in the first two rounds of the draft.
03:23That's how good that defense was.
03:25None of those players are in Austin today playing in this game.
03:28Now, you reload.
03:30You got more four and five stars out there, but it's a new defense.
03:33You look at what Arch did in the last two months of the last season.
03:37He was arguably the best quarterback in the nation from November on.
03:42He had the highest QBR at 87.9, 62% of his passes, 14 touchdowns and two interceptions, five more
03:49on the ground.
03:50He followed that up last week with a 305-yard four-touchdown game.
03:55Arch looks different.
03:57Now, granted, he's not playing Ohio State defenses, but I think the combination of what Arch has become,
04:03and the differences between Texas and Ohio State that we just mentioned kind of tilts it a little bit towards
04:10Texas now.
04:11Did I wake up one day and say, oh, my God, I can't believe I'm taking Texas in a big
04:15game?
04:15Sure, I texted you that last night.
04:17But I am taking Texas in this game for those exact reasons I just mentioned, because I think the number
04:24narrative is on Texas.
04:26And plus, by the way, they're at home in Austin.
04:29That's nothing to sneeze at.
04:30You look at last year's game, there might be a reason Texas turned it over on downs four times.
04:35They're playing in Columbus.
04:36I don't think that happens if the game is in Austin.
04:39I don't think that happens if the game is in Austin.
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